Chancellor and Chairwoman of the German Christian Democrats Angela Merkel gives a television interview on December 7, 2016 in Essen, Germany Angela Merkel was plunged into a new row over immigration Wednesday when delegates at her party conference voted to end dual citizenship for the children of immigrants. The German chancellor quickly disowned the decision by her Christian Democratic Union party , as her coalition partners said they would block it from becoming government policy.

The German government is preparing legislation to outlaw child marriage, an accepted practice among the country's more than 1 million Muslim refugees. The proposed bill is likely to become law because it has the support of the Social Democrats and the Christian Democratic Union, which are the majority parties in the country's ruling coalition.

German Chancellor and Chairwomen of the CDU, Angela Merkel, holds an voting ticket during a party conference of the Christian Democratic Union in Essen, Germany, Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2016. Chancellor Angela Merkel has won a new two-year term as leader of Germany's main conservative party after she won 89.5 percent of delegates' votes at a party congress.

Austrian Chancellor Christian Kern has congratulated Alexander Van der Bellen for his victory over right-winger Norbert Hofer in the country's presidential election. Kern says he is "convinced that we will have a president with Van der Bellen who will represent Austria domestically and abroad in an excellent manner."

This editorial is reposted with permission after first published in the Cedar Rapids Gazette. The analysis and opinions presented are those of Dr. Steffen Schmidt and not necessarily representative of Local 5 News, We Are Iowa, or Nexstar Broadcasting.

Chancellor Angela Merkel will rally her conservatives at a party conference on Tuesday to gird for a German election next year that she expects to be "tough like no other". Seeking a fourth term in office, Merkel must unite her Christian Democrats and try to recapture some of her personal popularity, undermined by the crises that have rocked Europe.

Chancellor Angela Merkel will rally her conservatives at a party conference on Tuesday to gird for a German election next year that she expects to be "tough like no other". German Chancellor and leader of the conservative Christian Democratic Union party CDU Angela Merkel poses with CDU leaders ahead a CDU party convention in Essen, Germany, December 5, 2016.

Italy's Prime Minister Matteo Renzi announces his resignation during a press conference at the Palazzo Chigi following the results of the vote for a referendum on constitutional reforms, on December 5, 2016 in Rome. "My experience of government finishes here," Renzi told a press conference after the No campaign won what he described as an "extraordinarily clear" victory in the referendum on which he had staked his future.